“Cats,” specifically.
I think we all know how oblique Mr Eliot could be, with all the references to other literary works that he sprinkled throughout his poetry, and no one just “get it” on their own.
But what about the “Cats” poems. Is there byzantine references to things that make them actually more than they seem, or are they just nonsense poems in the same vein as Lear and Carroll?
Primarily amusements. Eliot wrote them for fun and circulated them among friends without really thinking about publication. I doubt he considered them among his best work, and would be astounded to know that they are his most successful theatrical property (he was an excellent playwright).
“East is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does.” – Marx
Read “Sundials” in the new issue of Aboriginal Science Fiction. www.sff.net/people/rothman
IMHO, “The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock” contains one of the most lyrical refrains ever written - “And the women come and go, talking of Michaelangelo”. I don’t know why it captivates me, but it is one of those poems which must be read out loud, it is heavenly to speak. (Though I am not certain that I remember it all together correctly).
Hey, two of my early choices for SDMB user-name were “Mister Apollinax” and “Burnt Norton.” I LOVE T.S., anti-semitism and all!
But I’ve never read the cat poems. That damn B’way show ruined them for me in advance.
Uke
You can find the online version of Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats here .
This is Elliot’s original, without all the stuff that Sir Webber put in…
-David
Has nothing to do with the OP, but the only two musicals that I actually like are Cats and Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
And people think I’m strange…go figure!
-David
April is the cruelest month.
Breeding lilacs out of the dead land